Kumquats and such

The day after Easter, Grandma, Papa, Daddy, Reagan and I headed into the city for the White House Easter Egg Roll (at my behest). This may go down in history as one of my worst ideas ever! The weather was brisk (to put it nicely) and windy, the lines were innumerable, and the Egg Roll left lots to be desired, but hey, we got the wooden egg at the end:)  Ok, that's a lot of complaining out of the way. Here's the truth: it wasn't awful, but we will NEVER do it again. The event started with lots of circling blocks around the White House in search of parking, and was quickly followed by enough walking to fulfill a 3-day breast cancer walk. Papa and Jason were kind enough to park the car while we got a head start toward the entrance... Once Papa and Jason met up with us, we got into the first line... Daddy played with Reagan to keep her happy. And I made friends with a squirrel:) After we made it into the first corral, we got into another line....

My new camera (that I got for my birthday) came in handy on Easter Sunday when Reagan donned her fancy dress (courtesy of Grandma and Papa of course!) for brunch: I love these pictures. Her personality comes through. Thanks to an open door (for great lighting) and Daddy holding the backdrop, we'll have these memories forever!

Growing up with traditions is a wonderful thing. When two people get married, they are forced to select which traditions they will follow. Luckily, we seem to be able to compromise on these things. In our house (when we were kids) the Easter Bunny used to hide our baskets and create an egg trail. In Jason's family, the baskets were sitting on the table waiting the next morning. I had my heart set on sticking with my family's tradition, so the Easter Bunny set up a trail for Reagan... She had a great time picking up the eggs (and checking out what was inside the plastic ones!) and eventually found her basket which she loved:

After we finished dying the eggs, Reagan and I went outside to help Daddy with the mulch. The Easter Bunny brought Reagan an early present from her basket... Then, after all her hard work, Reagan relaxed in her favorite tree!

The Saturday before Easter was a spectacular one. Jason enlisted the help of Gary Michael and John Stotz to move three loads of mulch to our front yard (thanks guys!) and the flower beds are finally starting to look decent. Reagan wandered out in her pajamas, vest, and cowboy boots to help the boys. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite aware of her surroundings and managed to get a little mulch in the face:) She helped a little while longer and then we went inside to dye some Easter eggs!  We kept it to 11 eggs, and that seemed to be the perfect amount. Reagan had a great time dipping them in the different colors and after they dried, we decorated them with stickers and "hair" to look like monsters! Next year, she can probably do them all be herself!

On Easter Sunday, we woke up early for the pre-church egg hunt. The Tuesday beforehand, Reagan participated in her first ever egg hunt. We were told that children were limited to 12 eggs to ensure everyone got the same amount. This didn't prove to be an issue as Reagan picked up her first (and only) egg, discovering that there was candy inside! Yup, she finished the hunt with just one:) Well, on the actual day, we used real eggs and she absolutely loved it. In fact, I think she picked up more than a dozen in total! Then she got to open her first of two Easter baskets and wanted to play with or eat everything inside: We took a couple pictures before church and Reagan loved her new Easter dress that Grandma picked out for her! We headed to church where Reagan surprised all of us with her good behavior. She even went up to the front with Grandma for children's time. Her only mistake was running wildly up the aisle after a quick trip to the potty, shrieking wil...